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TnAdct1

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08:36:03 PM Feb 28th 2014

For those trying to edit the order of the episode (given what's been going on today), just a friendly reminder: the list goes by production order, not by broadcast order. If an episode airs out of production order, you should include a note saying that rather than trying to rearrange the order.

In other words: Season 4, Episode 19 production wise is going to air later in the season and out of order in terms of broadcast order. Hence, please keep that entry as To Be Announced until that episode is officially announced (instead of listing the episode that is actually episode 20 in production order as episode 19).

To Be Announcednote An animatic clip apparently for this episode is the first of four segments included in an animatic compilation shownat San Diego Comic-Con 2013. It involves the Equestria Games, Scootaloo, the CMC, and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Meghan McCarthy's April Fools' Day 2013 episode title: "The Student Becomes the Teacher: The Return of Sunset Shimmer"

To Be Announcednote An animatic clip apparently for this episode is the second of four segments included in an animatic compilation shownat San Diego Comic-Con 2013. It involves Spike and the Mane Six (as superheroes) going up against a villain in a city called Maretropolis. Meghan McCarthy's April Fools' Day 2013 episode title: "Luna-tic"

To Be Announcednote Has boarding by Sabrina Alberghetti. Meghan McCarthy's April Fools' Day 2013 episode title: "Don't You Dare"

To Be Announcednote An animatic clip apparently for this episode is the third of four segments included in an animatic compilation shownat San Diego Comic-Con 2013. It includes a song from the Apple Family and Pinkie Pie called "Apples Forever". Meghan McCarthy's April Fools' Day 2013 episode title: "It Ain't Easy Being Cheesy"

To Be Announcednote Meghan McCarthy's April Fools' Day 2013 episode title: "Oops"

To Be Announcednote Meghan McCarthy's April Fools' Day 2013 episode title: "Bats"

I think short pages can be started for the four episodes we saw a sneak peek of. We've got dialouge and visuals for what is slated to occur, and if I tried hard enough, I could identify the tropes seen in those animatics. Those four episodes deserve to have their recap pages started.

Telcontar

12:51:40 AM Jul 24th 2013

The episodes don't have titles yet, so we'd just need to create the page with clumsy titles and move them later, which seems more trouble than it's worth for a few brief clips which will show few tropes.

Maybe we should stop putting Absentee Actor in the episode recaps anymore. It made sense in the first season when all of the Mane Six would be in almost every episode, but it's clear that the format of the show has since then changed. Now it's pretty much normal for only some of the characters not be in the episode. I'm saying this because almost every episode in season three (and also a good amount of season two episodes) has this trope in their recap pages even though it shouldn't really apply since the character wouldn't have been relevant.

I haven't dabbled in this in a good while, but I just wanted to give a heads-up to everyone involved with this:

DO NOT PUT QUOTATION MARKS IN THE CUSTOM TITLE TOOL.

While quotation marks for episode titles is proper style (and should be used in the actual body of the page), the custom title tool is presently bugged and will cut off all text in the custom title from the first quotation mark onward. Custom titles that already have quotation marks (as this did work in the past) can keep them.

According to some comments over on the Derpibooru image site, the studio is switching to thirteen episodes a season, and TWO seasons per year, with shorter gaps in between seasons. This lightens everyone’s load with work on the show, and the viewer’s impatience. However, this wouldn't be the first time bronies have been trolled about future episodes, so take this "news" with a grain of salt until it is verified. Read about it in the comments here.

So if true, do we label the seasons "3.1" & "3.2"?

Redmess

02:48:07 AM Apr 22nd 2014

Does a season neccesarily need to cover a year? If not, just numbering the seasons as usual seems fine. But I think this is Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp", really. A season is just a season, and if they split it in two, we could just call them the first and second half, just like with South Park.

I've noticed on some of the pages that spoilers are used, and I'm wondering if we should do this considering the entire plot of each episode, twists included, is recapped at the start of each page and thus anyone reading them should know that they'll be spoiled upon entering. I understand if the spoilered parts are relating to an event in future episodes that the reader may not want to be spoiled about, but everything else just seems superfluous.

Layout artist Nayuki hasstatedthat there are 26 episodes this season, which matches up with the number that Daniel Ingram originally revealed. The rumor of Season 2 having 28 episodes came from SoSilver's tour of Hasbro Italy, and he later clarifiedthat "They told me to keep an eye around those episodes but it's not certain wich ones ( they didn't remember the correct episodes), but i am positive it will be about the end of seson 2."

The Hub's webpage for the show currently uses the same background◊ as the Cadence/Shining Armor wedding displays seen at Hasbro's world HQ party, at the 2012 Hong Kong Licensing Show, and at the 2012 New York Toy Fair. EDIT: And now they've used it again◊. EDIT 2: And◊four◊more◊times◊ EDIT 3: Again

When asked about Cadence and the wedding, Lauren Faustsaid "I was very involved in the inception of the story, but I was surprised when I saw she is an alicorn. I don't know who made that decision, but it was after I was no longer working on the show."

For what it's worth, Lauren Faust's interview with Equestria Daily told us that The Ticket Master came first in production order. So it's ALREADY in airdate order. I recommend we change Hearth's Warming Eve to S 2 E 11 for consistency's sake.

Whatshisgame

05:44:43 PM Dec 3rd 2011edited by Whatshisgame

No, all Lauren Faustsaid (see question 5) is that the original, 11-minute version of "The Ticket Master" was the first script to be written (and that was before the show was even greenlit).

Nayuki says that "Hearth's Warming Eve" will be the first episode to be aired out of production order, so "The Ticket Master" comes third in production order, not first.

EDIT: Come to think of it, even The Hub's decision might not be enough—see my next post.

ShadowHog

12:45:06 PM Dec 4th 2011edited by ShadowHog

I agree with Whatshisgame on this matter. It's Episode 13, not Episode 11, and it should be in Episode 13's spot.

As evidence supporting my argument, I took a quick look at the Out of Order article and took a look at which shows had entries under Recap. I haven't done a full look, but both Teen Titans and Firefly are listed on both, and the Recap listings for both shows opts for production order over broadcast order (well, Kids' WB's broadcast order, in the case of Teen Titans). It doesn't exactly scream "this is TV Tropes' official policy on the matter" like Calnos is looking for, but it definitely leans that way.

(I also noticed Star Trek: The Original Series aired out of production order; I'll probably go over that series' recap page, as well as Memory Alpha's order listing (I'm pretty sure that wiki has both airing and production orders), and figure out which one was opted for there.)

I must confess to being rather annoyed that we don't have a synopsis for the real Episode 11 yet, though. Going by this, it's almost like they're going to air the same Christmas episode three weeks in a row. Couldn't they have just swapped 12 and 13 and left 11 out of this entirely...?

EDIT: Okay, I've looked at the Star Trek: The Original Series list on the TV Tropes recap page and allthreepages on Memory Alpha - that's definitely in airdate order, which honestly surprises me and undermines my argument, but nevertheless, there it is. I still think our case should opt for production order all the same, especially if, when all three episodes in question get aired finally, any continuity issues arise (minor ones, but something like, say, seeing the Cutie Mark Crusaders officially together before "Call of the Cutie" airs and they form their group). Hell, the Trekkie in me is tempted to go and edit the list for the TOS page to be in production order, too... I don't like inconsistencies.

, even if they call "Hearth's Warming Eve" episode 11, it could still be episode 13.

If channels in any other countries air the episodes in production order, and they air "Hearth's Warming Eve" as episode 13, that would support it really being 13 (and if they air it as episode 11, they could just be following The Hub's broadcast order).

Of course, seeing as it's a holiday episode, by the time it reaches other countries, those countries' channels might decide to wait until the next holiday season to air it...does anyone know if they did that with "Luna Eclipsed" or not?

Calnos

06:06:40 AM Dec 5th 2011

I think Production Order is probably the way to go, I just wasn't sure how we handled other shows in the past. Firefly is probably a good example, that was aired way out of order but we have it in production order.

Thebes

08:15:39 AM Dec 5th 2011

I don't think it matters as much in the case of FiM as much as Firefly, since nearly every episode is stand-alone and there have been plenty of continuity errors already.

GoldenSandslash15

09:46:09 AM Dec 7th 2011edited by GoldenSandslash15

MLP Wikia lists them in airdate order, as do most fansites. I dunno if that matters or not.

GoldenSandslash15

04:46:24 PM Dec 10th 2011

Okay, Zap2it has stopped giving episode numbers. 'Family Appreciation Day' doesn't have an episode number. Yet it is listed as S 2 E 12 here. Clearly, we are going by airdate order, so Hearth's Warming Eve should be S 2 E 11. I would change it, but I don't know how. Could someone else do it?

ThMole

08:34:06 PM Dec 10th 2011

TIME'S ALMOST UP!

Which way do we want it? I can do the work, but I've been banned once, and I don't want to be accused of starting an Edit War.

gs

04:31:37 PM Dec 11th 2011

This is simple folks, we don't have a full production order listing. We don't currently know what the 11th production episode is or what was switched around. Production isn't as simple as making one episode then making another in the first place, so production order is a touch arbitrary. The show itself is almost entirely non-linear delieberately so you can watch it in almost any order. I'd cite Star Trek: TOS as an example which That Other Wiki shows as being all over the place with production order versus broadcast order. But lists them in order of airdate.

For the moment the index is overwhelmingly in airing order and keeping airing order provides an indisputable sequential progression order for all episodes from start to finish. Thinking long term what if we have some other episodes switched around but never find out a full production order. Or an episode get produced but for some reason gets cancelled before being finished creating a hole in production order.

Airdate keeps the entire index sequential and without holes whatever occurs. If we get a complete production order or a DVD boxset comes out with everything in one place then this can always be edited again to account for that.

For the next few weeks though you are going to get a high number of people hitting the page expecting it to be Episode 11. For that matter there's going to be plenty of listings for it as Episode 11 (like TV Guide) along with all the fan-sites like Equestria Daily. We are still risking an Edit War as is with tropers simply coming along and going "that's silly it should be in order" on their way put their contributions to the episode page.

I'm not saying we don't note the change as it is, but given how much we don't know it remains simpler to simply list by airdate.

And a final point to consider: The Hub chose to change the order. Without some particular reason (like messing with a sequential storyline) are we to dispute the ordering they decided to change. Probably because they want the Xmas episode to air in time for Christmas. Its not an unreasonable change on their part given that we won't likely get a new for a few weeks due to Christmas and New Years Eve nuking regular programming.

All this in mind I'm going to change it, I won't Edit War over the matter but I'd rather see it done.

Whatshisgame

09:31:07 PM Dec 11th 2011edited by Whatshisgame

The Hub's numbering doesn't set anything in stone (they're just the channel that gets to air the show first), but I just remembered another source for episode numbering: the iTunes releases. Once "Hearth's Warming Eve" becomes available there, I recommend we go with whichever number iTunes gives it.

ShadowHog

08:23:44 AM Dec 12th 2011edited by ShadowHog

Yeah, I'm honestly really disappointed that the Zap2It thing, which caused this whole argument in the first place, doesn't bother to clarify it any with the number of the new episode. I was hoping to have some sort of confirmation either way... but nope, nothin'.

ThMole

02:07:03 PM Dec 12th 2011

Okay, I'm going to go with gs, above. Problem solved, then.

ShadowHog

06:46:27 PM Dec 12th 2011edited by ShadowHog

Not solved; I'm just not in any mood to get into an edit war over it. I still say production order, but since I'm not involved in its production, I can't give you the proper layout for the other episodes at this time. When I can, I intend to reopen this issue.

gs

02:06:59 AM Dec 14th 2011

If we have some more info that's not unreasonable. I'd for example take iTunes as a reasonable sequential, if they skip 11 and 12 to list 13 we've got a ballgame. I'd be a little suprised if that happened but it would be some kind of source. Given how unlikely a Season Box set is at this time and barring a complete release of the production order.

I'd still personally favor airing order as being ultimately simpler and think this all smacks a little of nitpicking. Why is production order a Holy Grail, its not like this is a sequential arc-based show? I don't think we can make any case that the order represents some kind of artistic/creator vision when you can't construct a sensible order (winter before autumn anypony? How long in advance was EP 3 from EP 26?) from the show itself without massive amounts of Fan Wank. What precisely makes the case for production order over the indisputably sequential airing order?

ShadowHog

08:30:09 AM Dec 14th 2011

Aside from the other TV Tropes recap pages that I already cited above, pretty much it's just that it's a known inconsistency, which irks the crap out of me, and that I have the tendency to stick to my convictions once I've made them (I'm stubborn like that). It's too early to tell if there will be any contradictory events arising out of playing the episodes out of order, though, which means it's not worth me pushing heavily for it at this time; and, if we wind up with everything but the kitchen sink saying Episode 11 many months out from now, I'll just have to deal with it.

I just don't want to start up an edit war. I was involved in a pretty back-and-forth one on Wikipedia's page for Sonic (trying to use any image of him other than that god-awful render from Sonic Heroes with the constipated, shit-eating grin, basically), so it's a road I'd rather not travel down once more. Besides, I've already fired the first shot anyway (being the one who created the article in slot 13 in the first place)...

gs

07:21:45 PM Dec 14th 2011

Well I poking about I see that Teen Titans for exampe had complete season box release now five years ago. I'm presuming that became the source of the order though looking through I'm not seeing that many conflicts. If we end up with conflicting orders in actual material released to the public its different. Right now we only have some info that a worker bee for the show has loosely confirmed. That however is not an official statement on how the episodes "should" be ordered, heck we don't even have Nayuki indicating conflict simply that a confirmation that a change occurred.

Now on a different track concerns about continuity, I doubt we have reason for concern.

The show is already anachronic. Consider the series starts at the Summer Sun Celebration, the latest episode is no more then a year from that (Spike's first b-day in Ponyville afterall) yet we see winter turning to spring, THEN autumn in a "later" episode. There's other examples, the gala dresses Early-Bird Cameo at least as early as Swarm Of The Century a whole four episodes before they were made. Clearly the show doesn't care about presenting an ordered story, the dresses on the rack is a convenient flash object not a statement on timing and indicative of how the show is made in piecemeal fashion.

Even aside from strict continuity we've only had only one thematic change so far, from Twilight writing to anypony writing the lesson. However while introduced in Episode Zero, it doesn't take in Luna Eclipsed and we wait until Sisterhooves Social where Twilight doesn't even appear.

While the premise promises a lot of exposition on the background of the show by the same token its probably not going to say... have a major character Put on a Bus somehow.

Actually old news, this has been reported for awhile. Basically both Hasbro and the DVD distributor have asked for theme releases which show no regards to ordering. However the theme releases are by no means a new phenomena in kids programing, just because of this it may be several years before they stop trying to milk extra profits by tricking kids' parents.

Which is why iTunes is probably going to be our most "official" source of ordering but I suspect they receive them in much the way we do. If they don't raise this conflict its fairly likely never to happen it will be just an tidbit of info.

Whatshisgame

02:01:03 PM Dec 16th 2011edited by Whatshisgame

Speaking of the DVDs, what if an episode (such as "The Last Roundup") premieres on DVD, and isn't aired until after another new episode airs? (If this ever does happen, it'll probably make production order the less confusing order...assuming we find out what the production order is...)

EDIT 3: If we do move "Hearth's Warming Eve" back to 13, what about the currently unnumbered "Family Appreciation Day"? Looks like we've got two options for that one:

Guess that Episodes 11 and 13 were switched, and treat "Family Appreciation Day" as Episode 12.

Guess that Episode 13 was moved ahead, and treat "Family Appreciation Day" as Episode 11.

I'd vote for treating it as Episode 11, since there's no indication that anything more than "Hearth's Warming Eve" was moved. At least we now know that iTunes will tell us its real number on January 8th.

Calnos

08:20:09 AM Dec 18th 2011

We could probably just wait until the "real" Episodes 11 and 12 surface, and then move them accordingly.

GoldenSandslash15

02:25:30 PM Dec 18th 2011

We should move Hearth's Warming Eve to S 2 E 13. iTunes is an official source, and since most people will look there, it's best that we be consistent with them. Family Appreciation Day has no number yet, but we do know it will be in Season 2. Not sure what to do about that.

GoldenSandslash15

02:25:58 PM Dec 18th 2011

And yes, I am the guy who wanted it moved to S 2 E 11 in the first place. You've converted me.

gs

05:27:26 PM Dec 18th 2011

Yes we will need to change the order, I propose waiting for the page editing to slow down before converting but yes we have a source and reason that iTunes will eventually clear this up.

ShadowHog

06:00:11 PM Dec 18th 2011

Here's what I suggest: since we have no idea what order the other episodes are in, let's keep it at 11 for now, since that's where everyone's going to be expecting it. Once we know how the other episodes fall into place, into 13 it'll go.

It's not that I don't want to move it, I just don't want to be too hasty about it.

GoldenSandslash15

08:50:14 AM Dec 19th 2011

iTunes changed it back to S 2 E 11. Because of this, I vote we do not.

We make Hearth's Warming Eve S 2 E 11 and Family Appreciation Day S 2 E 12. iTunes is more official than Zap2it.

ShadowHog

07:29:49 AM Dec 20th 2011edited by ShadowHog

Regardless of what we do, we need to make sure the production order is at least noted. (ED: n/m, it already is. Cool.)

Also, although the odds of this happening are slim to none, it's still possible that when the episode comes out, "Hearth's Warming Eve"'s spot on iTunes would get bumped to 12, and eventually 13 when episode 12 comes out, too.

I dunno, I'm just pissed that iTunes basically confirmed my side was correct, and then suddenly switched to the other. It'd have hurt less if they just came out with it as 11 in the first place.

We could always wait until the episodes air/officially listed on iTunes to mess with this page.

Crazy idea, I know.

ShadowHog

09:33:10 AM Dec 20th 2011

Not so crazy; for the most part, that's what we're doing. iTunes says 11, so it's in 11. If they change their mind for some reason and move it to 13, we move it to 13.

Whatshisgame

09:54:05 AM Dec 20th 2011

Yeah, I'm not saying to move anything now; it's just possible that in the future, iTunes will bump the numbers back up, which would prompt us to bump them up as well. I'm hoping that they only temporarily changed it to 11 to avoid looking like they inexplicably aren't selling 11 or 12.

In the interest of planning ahead, what about the previously-mentioned possibility of an episode (such as "The Last Roundup") premiering on DVD and not being aired until after another new episode airs? The iTunes order would still take precedence, right?

ShadowHog

09:56:41 AM Dec 20th 2011

Well, it's really the closest thing we have to a boxset, so I'd assume so.

GoldenSandslash15

02:00:38 PM Dec 21st 2011

The Other Wiki has decided to use airdate order, so I vote that we do the same, in order to be consistent.

iTunes appears to be doing the same at the moment, anyways.

Zap2it is the only source still using production order, and it is the least reliable source of the three.

I vote that we stick with iTunes, meaning leave the episodes as they are now but bump them up if iTunes bumps them up. iTunes order is basically the tiebreaker between production order and broadcast order—hopefully iTunes won't ever Take a Third Option; then things would be even more confusing...

Of the expected scenarios I think iTunes doing 13 then 11 was the one I least expected.

We will have to wait for until more episodes are out, if they don't revise the order on iTunes that probably implies the closest we have to a final position given how little production order effects the show.

And at some point we will need to remove the little notes on this because they will become simply confusing.

Anyways for lack of a better source we should keep to iTunes over listing on sites. I find myself asking what Zap2it's source is, since they seem to be the source of the stink.

ShadowHog

07:08:08 AM Dec 22nd 2011edited by ShadowHog

Keeping it in airdate order is one thing, but I refuse to remove the little notes on it. They're out-of-the-way, anyway, and explicitly spell out we're using airdate order instead of production. How is that confusing?

Unless you mean the ones on the summary pages themselves, which admittedly could stand to be streamlined a bit further (although I'm not entirely sure how - and I'm not especially for their removal there, either).

ED: I've edited the main page, in case that's what you meant, to elaborate on which order we're using. I think it's pretty much unanimous among us that we'll be using the iTunes ordering. I still say we should note the production order, though, as it is presently.

I honestly have no idea anymore. I really really really want to move it back to Episode 13, but the result of the discussion earlier was fairly conclusively in favor of using iTunes' ordering - so that's probably what I'm gonna go with until I have sufficient evidence to go otherwise (for instance, I'd put a proper DVD release over iTunes).

On the plus side, it sure is nice not to have to worry about this chaos with Episode 14!

I'm at odds because the Hub should take precedence over iTunes because it is actually run by Hasbro with Discovery, its not just some syndicated station. That said they've made basic mistakes before on the website (like spelling this happened with the Naughty or Nice pages) and presumably this upload will vanish over the long run so we are what going to screen cap and link the pic? When the next episode is uploaded, watch them pull the same stunt iTunes did and reorder them.

Gah I don't even know anymore, let's keep the order we have and take this up again when they all have aired keeping an eye out for any listings in the meantime.

ShadowHog

08:23:08 AM Jan 9th 2012edited by ShadowHog

Ready for something confusing? iTunes has "Family Appreciation Day" up... as 11. It also has "Hearth's Warming Eve" still up... as 11.

Yes, we have two episode 11s! キターーーー(・∀・)ーーー！！ (...sorry)

Honestly, watching all the confusion unfurl in real-time is highly amusing at this point. :P

Whatshisgame

06:21:21 PM Jan 9th 2012edited by Whatshisgame

Yeah, I saw that too—remember how they had "Hearth's Warming Eve" as 13, then changed it to 11 the next day? They'll probably change one of those two 11s to a 12 tomorrow...I'm hoping it'll be "Hearth's Warming Eve", but I'm expecting it to be "Family Appreciation Day", since it's listed after "Hearth's Warming Eve" there...

iTunes finally updated. "Family Appreciation Day" and "Baby Cakes" are 11 and 12, respectively, as per production order.

...but "Hearth's Warming Eve" is still a second 11. ._.

gs

09:50:17 AM Jan 16th 2012

All of this in my mind merely reinforces simply going with airing order. Its clearly the only one we can actually stand by as simpler, clear-cut, and not changing.

GoldenSandslash15

03:46:12 PM Jan 16th 2012

@Whatshisgame: The page says "Hey fans! What has been your favorite episode of season two so far?" And then it lists the following options:

The Return of Harmony (Parts 1 & 2)

Lesson Zero

Luna Eclipsed

Sisterhooves Social

The Cutie Pox

Rainbow Dash episodes May the Best Pet Win! and The Mysterious Mare Do Well

Sweet and Elite

Secret of my Excess

Hearth's Warming Eve

Family Appreciation Day

So, they've been combining episodes pointlessly, for one. For another, they do not have "Baby Cakes," which is where the problem lies. The other issue is that they are not numbered.

I say we stick with airdate order, because (1) It's not changing. (2) The Other Wiki does so. (3) The placement of Hearth's Warming Eve doesn't affect the story.

Whatshisgame

03:53:06 PM Jan 16th 2012edited by Whatshisgame

Well, now that iTunes's numbering matches production order more than broadcast order (2 production matches vs. 1 broadcast match), I'm thinking we should switch back to production order. That's the order The Hub's using (and as gs pointed out, they're not just some syndicated station, they're actually run by Hasbro with Discovery), both intheir◊own◊website's◊uploads◊ and in that episodelist◊ they emailed to EqD.

EDIT (I was still writing this post when GoldenSandslash15 posted the above post): Hasbro's Facebook list doesn't include "Baby Cakes" because it was posted before "Baby Cakes" aired. Anyway, since that list isn't numbered, should we disregard it?

ShadowHog

06:23:09 PM Jan 16th 2012

Re: The Other Wiki doing it: it's a wiki, and can easily have a few things shuffled around. I mean, I actually intend to bring that issue up there, too, once there's a more solid source to point to (they really like their citations, after all). I was hoping iTunes would fix the two-11s issue today so I could already have brought it up...

I can understand the logic of why you would want to go with airdate, but frankly, I still want to go with what we have for Word of God than... uh... Word of Dante? Word of Fanon? I dunno what you'd call it.

Whatshisgame

06:31:39 PM Jan 16th 2012edited by Whatshisgame

I once read that if you buy "Hearth's Warming Eve" from iTunes, the downloaded file is still labeled as episode 13. Can anyone who bought it after they switched it to 11 confirm or disprove this?

gs

09:17:20 AM Jan 17th 2012

I've seen alleged direct rips without numbering and with numbering but not with production order numbering.

Incidentally I've changed the description twice now to what the de facto system being used of airing order because that IS what we are using since we are not participating in iTunes own madness of two episode 11s.

And again entirely in favor of airing order. Its what people will be looking for, its the simplest, and it will never change or be confused. For indexing purposes its entirely superior to the production order that very obviously nobody in charge seem to care about. This entire discussion seems to be based on the idea that the order they were made actually matters, which I question.

What precisely is the virtue of production order again? Certainly not sequential storytelling.

ShadowHog

07:07:32 PM Jan 17th 2012

Well, okay, I'll refrain from changing it back until iTunes gets its act together (although I can't imagine them ignoring this for much longer). No sense in starting an edit war; as much as I may want to, it'd be unnecessarily distracting. That being said, we had agreed to iTunes, and once their act is together, it's what I'm holding this page to. I can handle the dirty work, beyond reviews and/or discussion pages, so...

As for virtues, there are a few that I can think of. Admittedly some of them are conjecture, but regardless, I'll stand by it:

Considering it's the numbering that The Hub/Hasbro/iTunes is going with, it's also very likely it's the order they'll be rebroadcast in, as well as listed on any potential boxsets (one can dream) in. I'm keeping an eye on The Hub's weekday schedule to see how they handle rebroadcasts - at present they're still reairing Season One, so it'll be a matter of time before I can call this either way (as in, sometime in February). The fact they list the episodes with the production numbers on their site is a strong indicator of how they intend to handle reruns, however.

It's more consistent with other Recap pages on TV Tropes, as cited very early on in the discussion.

Going with #1, there may not be confusion with the airdate order now, but in a matter of months there likely will be. Hell, there already was some minor confusion when Hasbro supplied the episode listing to Eq D for the "Hearts and Hooves" marathon vote (Eq D's nicely skirted the issue by referring to the episodes strictly by name, otherwise). I would rather get the confusion out of the way sooner, rather than later (although I suppose there's some merit to waiting until people are focusing on later episodes, first, so it could be done more quietly).

Regardless, this is all a moot point until iTunes straightens up, and/or I can substantiate point 1 with evidence.

With regards to the direct rips: well, considering they didn't come from an official source, that sort of thing is to be expected. I mean, how many misattributed songs are floating out there on the Internet, due to similar situations? I'm taking those with a grain of salt, honestly.

Whatshisgame

12:00:10 AM Jan 18th 2012edited by Whatshisgame

Unfortunately, reruns probably won't shed any light on the issue; since "Hearth's Warming Eve" is a holiday special, it'll probably be skipped in reruns.

(Also, correction: as previously stated, EqD's marathon episode list was sent from The Hub, not Hasbro.)

EDIT: All right! If you go to this page on Hasbro's official site, they've got "Family Appreciation Day" available to watch for free now, and if you click the MENU button (or pause the video then mouse over it), it's shown to be titled My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Season 2 - Episode 11!

Since Hasbro is the most official of sources, and The Hub's order is the same as theirs, I'm going to go ahead and switch to the order they're both using. (EDIT 2: Finished switching.)

I don't care enough to undo things but the problem with the link is like most corporate sites it will probably disappear after awhile. And isn't a full list which. This is why for awhile we all liked iTunes, because it was the only thing that gave an actual list of all episodes at once.

Also noting to an above point the Hub already airs the episodes out of any order. Checking their schedule I for this Monday has The Last Roundup followed by Sonic Rainboom. Which I think underlines the basic point that the series really doesn't have an order of any substance. Its made to be watched any which way. We'd probably be truest to the series to strip out episode numbering from the recap pages so the numbering completely just an index list.

As I've said though I just don't care at this point at least enough to edit or such. Take it up again if we end up getting a season DVD set in different order after all.

ShadowHog

12:22:19 PM Feb 6th 2012edited by ShadowHog

Just wanted to note that, as per the original agreement, if iTunes is still using airdate order come summer as it is presently, then barring some concrete, permanent proof to the contrary (although frankly, if it's taking this long to come, it ain't coming), we should probably go back to that.

I'm not going to bother doing anything right now - as gs pointed out earlier, the thing's been in flux too much, and considering "The Last Roundup" is missing altogether... it's just too premature.

Admittedly, this is very hard for me to admit. I still have a hard time seeing the airdate order so widely used, having wired myself over the past two months to prefer production. But... don't worry about me, let's just do what's right.

If that isn't enough, there's still some hope left: the episode clips on The Hub's site and (starting with Season 2) on Hasbro's mylittleponyYouTube channel are numbered, and while they've only been up to "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" for a while now, they'll probably upload more eventually.

EDIT: Another thing to keep an eye out for is that between the second and third seasons, The Hub's website will probably have random episodes available like they did between the first and second seasons. When and if they make "Family Appreciation Day", "Baby Cakes", and/or (less likely) "Hearth's Warming Eve" available again, they'll probably leave them numbered in production order.

GoldenSandslash

11:52:10 AM Mar 15th 2012

iTunes now has all 20 currently-aired episodes up, in airdate order. I vote we switch back to that.

ShadowHog

06:45:25 PM Apr 21st 2012

Incidentally, Netflix should be getting S2 sometime soon, since it just wrapped up (and the official word was "Season 2 will go up after it's done" - no specifics on when after, just "after").

I'm curious as to what order they're gonna use. If it's airdate order as well, then that pretty much solidifies that that's the order Hasbro intends to roll with, and we'd better change back. If it's production order... well, nothing'll really get solved, but at least I'll have something concrete to point to if the issue ever comes up elsewhere.

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